


we're not out of the tunnel

by Capitola



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, F/M, Hair Braiding, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24483199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capitola/pseuds/Capitola
Summary: Veth can't keep her hands off of her husband's hair.
Relationships: Nott/Caleb Widogast, Veth Brenatto/Bren Aldric Ermendrud, Veth Brenatto/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 9
Kudos: 57





	we're not out of the tunnel

**Author's Note:**

> **flammablehat asked: okay hol up these trope smash options are AMAZING. how about 26 (massage fic) + 80 (green-eyed epiphany) and... would you be open to nott or veth/fjord? also 50 (arranged marriage) + 94 (hair brushing/braiding) with caleb and nott or veth? basically your preference on nott or veth for either option, i'm love them both**
> 
> I wasn’t sure whether the op wanted Caleb/Veth or Caleb & Veth so I left it ambiguous (but really it's always widobrave hours here). And he’s Bren because ~~I’ve read “[that blessed arrangement”](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1266467) too many times~~ Reasons. Title from "I Will" by Mitski.

“Husband” was all Veth called Bren at first, more than a little passive-aggressively. He couldn’t blame her; their union was advantageous, but not to either of them. At first.

_“Husband, are the winters always this awful in Rexxentrum?”_

_“Husband, do you mean to tell me fruit always costs that much here?”_

They’ve warmed to each other now, the months having spun their simple chemistry into a fine thread of trust and intimacy. There is a lilt in her voice when she calls him husband now, inviting him to what’s become their little ritual.

“Husband, aren’t you going to come to bed?”

He sits cross-legged on the bed as she stands behind him, her breath warm on his neck as she parts and plaits his hair. Bren always liked his hair a little long, a vanity afforded to a man of his position, but he’d always just tied it up with a string of leather, or a bit of wire. Perhaps a ribbon on a fine occasion. 

Veth adores his hair, always remarking on how fine and soft it is. She bought a delicate horn comb to use on his hair specifically, and takes her sweet time teasing out the tiniest of tangles before she begins braiding it. She works her baubles into it, her little magpie collection of gaudy ribbons and brass buttons and glass beads. 

When she’s done, she sits down, and he lies back, resting his head in her soft lap. She admires her handiwork without a trace of self-consciousness, twisting the beads to see them catch the light, staring so intently into his eyes that he closes them, blushing. 

If only his colleagues, his underlings could see him now, head in his little country wife’s lap, hair braided with beads and buttons like some simple country swain. She dotes on him so gently, with fingers so clever. 

All of her is clever, that’s what they don’t understand. They think he took a hit, married below his station (back to his station, back to his own simple country roots), but she’ll take him far, he sees that now. 

“I’d do anything for me and mine,” she’d stage-whispered to him one evening, the two of them deep in a bottle of wine. “And husband, you’re mine now.”

**Author's Note:**

> I have a few ideas for a longer AU based on this that I'd like to write at some point...maybe if we ever get a longer Rexxentrum arc for me to draw on...feel free to poke me about it further on [tumblr](https://capitola.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated <3


End file.
